Park City Mayor Nann Worel, Summit County Council Chair Malena Stevens and Park City Chamber CEO and President Jennifer Wesselhoff were all in Paris when the International Olympic Committee awarded Utah with hosting the 2034 Winter Games late last month.
The trio were also able to experience the Summer Games, which began just days later across Paris. They shared their observations at a joint meeting of the Park City and Summit County councils Monday morning.
Worel says one of the problems she noticed was a lack of clear communication on how to get around the city.
“We were invited to the U.S. Embassy to meet with the ambassador and had pre-cleared our route,” Worel said. “When we got there, they said, ‘Nope, sorry, we’ve decided to close this road.’ That was not an unusual occurrence while we were there.”
Worel says improving communication around transportation should be a priority as Park City prepares to host several Olympic events in 2034.
The mayor says the security presence also stood out. Tens of thousands of armed police were brought into Paris for the Games amid heightened concerns about terrorist attacks.
“You never went anywhere without seeing officers armed with automatic weapons,” Worel said. “Coming from a community where we don’t see that regularly, on the one hand it made you feel safe, but on the other hand you kind of wondered, why do we have this level of security here?”
Wesselhoff with the Park City Chamber says it was clear the Games had an impact on locals.
“It was stark, the impacts of tourism to Paris. There were streets that we had to ourselves,” Wesselhoff said. “Many of the small businesses… were impacted by those closures, residents were impacted. And I think there’s just a lot more work that we can do as a community to mitigate that.”
Park City and Summit County are seeking a consultant to help create a 10-year action plan to prepare for 2034. Summit County Council Chair Malena Stevens said final proposals are due at the end of the month.
“We have so much time to both prepare and to learn from other communities in both the things that they’ve done well, the challenges that they’ve had, perhaps some of the things that have fallen flat or didn’t work out as well as they had hoped.”
The multiyear planning effort will also involve Park City Mountain, Deer Valley Resort and Utah Olympic Park.
Along with preparing for the future, council members expressed interest in looking back at lessons learned when Utah last hosted the Winter Games in 2002.
